With Randy Couture, Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic, Gabriel Gonzaga, Andrei Arlovski and Fabricio Werdum all tied up in the near future, there are few “big name” fighters available to fight the former PRIDE FC heavyweight champion.

In fact, the only other competitive option besides Vera is former UFC heavyweight titleholder Tim Sylvia.

Of course, the UFC can feed Nogueira a can or journeyman to build up name recognition among fans.

But a showdown with someone like Vera — a young and exciting fighter — would no doubt be a solid addition to any pay-per-view (PPV) card.